Let me say at first that I have not read the thread. I'm simply interested in offering an answer to the question posted in the OP. If anyone wants to pick it up and discuss my answer, great. If not then just consider this to be my two cents....
The answer depends on the context of the question. Are you talking about religious rituals and ceremonial laws, criminal justice laws or moral laws?
If the later then the answer is found in the 2nd post of this thread, that the law is our tutor to bring us to Christ but once in Christ we no longer need a tutor. Morality is about doing rightly because you WANT to do it, because you love your neighbor NOT because there's a list of rules on the wall saying to do this and not do that. If you refrain from stealing your neighbor's property because the Ten Commandments say "Thou shalt not steal." then you've received your reward in full.
The question of ceremonial laws having to do with religious rituals such as baptisms, sacrifices, etc. The answer there is obvious as well. Jesus fulfilled all such laws during His Earthly ministry. We have the substance and no longer need the shadow.
When it comes to criminal justice however, the answer is quite different. Stealing, for example, is not just a sin, its a crime. And God tells us very clearly what is to be done with the thief. We are told over and over and over again, throughout the scripture to "practice justice". Well, what does justice look like if not that which is presented to us as proper punishment of crimes in God's word? Justice, indeed all righteousness, is based on a single principle. A principle we've all come to know as the Golden Rule. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Criminal justice is no exception. Criminal justice is when it is done unto the convicted criminal as he sought to do unto his victim (whether he succeeded or not). Thus, if a person steals $100, the thief is not only to make his victim whole by returning the $100 but in addition to that he is to pay restitution to his victim so that it is done unto the thief as he did unto his victim. This is the basis of God's declaration, "life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. (Ex. 21:23-25 & Deut. 19:21).
Now, there are some specific issues presented in the Old Testament Law where the distinction is difficult to make between what is a criminal justice issue vs. what is a religious issue that applied only within the context of the nation of Israel and their practice of Judaism but those issues are few and far between. For the most part its pretty clearly cut and dried as to what is a moral law vs what is a religious law. For one thing, moral laws cannot contradict one another like religious laws can. There can be a dilemma between circumcising a child on the eighth day vs. not doing any work on the Sabbath (two religious laws). If the eighth day falls on Saturday, you have a conflict, the likes of which is not possible with moral laws. You'd never ever find yourself in a situation where you had to rape a woman in order to keep yourself from murdering her or where you had to choose between stealing someone's care and committing adultery with their spouse. Moral laws just do not conflict in that manner and thus the answer to your question, when it concerns matters of criminal justice, is a resounding, "YES!"
Resting in Him,
Clete
b
